The University as a Radical Experiment

Course Description

Summary

What does innovation look like in higher education?  This course explores the history of experimentation in colleges and universities in North America, from the utopian visions of learning communities to the radical rethinking of how learning happens.  It will examine the various waves of innovative institutions and how they reshaped higher education more broadly, and Bennington's place in these movements.  Topics include student-centered curricula, arts-based learning and experiential education, among other topics. Students will be asked to conduct research on a specific institution and collaborative research and presentations will be a major component of the course.